1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print system, an image forming device, an intermediate processing device, a web service provision device, a method of controlling the print system, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A print system has been proposed in which a print instruction is transmitted from a client to a server and the server receives the print instruction and converts the content to be printed into print data. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-196054 discloses a method in which a server receives a print instruction and information for controlling printing from a client, and the server produces print data based on the information configured to control printing. The server disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-196054 provides a client with a service for producing print data.
As disclosed above, a configuration is known in which a web server provides a client with a service. In recent years, cloud computing has also attracted attention as a configuration for providing a service from a web server to a client. A main feature of cloud computing is that data conversion and data processing are executed in a distributed manner using many computing resources so as to process requests from many clients in a simultaneous manner. At present, vendors provide various types of services in a disorderly manner by implementing web services in a cloud computing environment to realize cloud computing.
Vendors that provide services in a cloud computing environment include notable vendors such as Google (registered trademark). Google (registered trademark) has not only established many large-scale data centers but also cooperates with devices and is developing a data communication structure between devices and services. For example, Google (registered trademark) has developed a data communication structure configured to provide services in cooperation with image forming devices and has disclosed an interface for providing data communication between the cloud computing environment provided by Google (registered trademark) and image forming devices. The image forming devices in this system receive a print request from the service to thereby execute printing. The provision of the interface in relation to an image forming device enables the image forming device to be specified for printout from a client. This print system has been termed Google Cloud Print (“GCP”).
The flow of operations until use of GCP will be described below making reference to FIG. 34. A single user uses GCP from a single image forming device by acquiring a Google account, and associates the Google account and the image forming device ID for registration in GCP (steps 1 and 2 in FIG. 34). In this manner, a print job queue is produced that is identified by the Google account and the image forming device ID on GCP. The user logs into an application corresponding to GCP by use of the Google account, and selects a print menu of the application to, so that a list of print job queues associated with the Google account is displayed. When the user selects any of the print job queues, the print job is sent to the selected job queue to enable printing.
An image forming device is associated with considerable capital investment, and normally it is unusual for a single person to perform constant and continuous printing on a dedicated image forming device. Therefore, cost advantages are available in relation to shared use of a single image forming device by shifting the time of printing on the image forming device among a plurality of persons. GCP provides predetermined solutions that are adapted for this type of use.
Use of a single image forming device by a plurality of users through GCP is enabled by use of the “shared” function provided by GCP. Firstly, a single user registers the image forming device with GCP using the method described above. The user is termed a print manager or simply a manager. The print manager determines whether use of the image forming device by another user is appropriate. When the print manager is advised of the Google account of a user who is deemed to be appropriate as a user of the image forming device, the printer manager can enable shared settings of the account in the print job queue corresponding to the image forming device (steps 3 and 4 in FIG. 34). In this manner, the print job queue corresponding to the image forming device registered by the print manager is associated with the Google account of a user that is recognized by the manager for use of the image forming device, and thereby the user can send a print job to the print job queue. Consequently, when a user who is a manager implements shared settings by use of a shared function, a user who is not a manager can perform a print operation on the image forming device without registration of information for the image forming device by the user who is not a manager.
In this manner, GCP provides a method of shared use of a single image forming device among a plurality of users. This method is designed and formulated on the assumption of shared use of an image forming device by a small number of persons who have a preexisting relationship of trust. A more precise concept is shared use of a household image forming device by a family. In the following description, since the print services developed by companies other than Google are also configured in generally the same manner as GCP on the basis of user authentication, access rights and shared management, such services are generally denoted as an external print service.
The quality and quantity of Web applications are continuing to increase, and have reached a level of application to professional duties. Furthermore, an external print service is increasingly applied as an open-sourced method for printing content on a Web application. This method enables printing on an image forming device that has received a print instructions through an external print service from a PC or a mobile device without installation of a print driver for example. Consequently, increasingly, companies want to print by use of an external print service using a Web application.
As described above, an external print service is appropriately applied to shared use of an image forming device by a small number of persons in a preexisting relationship of trust. This is due to the fact that the structure of a shared function for an image forming device provided by external print service in their current configuration depend solely on an account of the external print service, and that any person who has an account for the external print service can register as a shared user of the image print device. Consequently, when the external print service is applied without modification within a company, security threats means that application is not appropriate in the following configurations. For example, application without modification of an external print service is not appropriate in the context of a large-scale company when there is limited acquaintance between employees or when business centers are dispersed. Furthermore, application within a company of an external print service without modification is not appropriate in an operating environment such as a workplace that makes high use of out-sourced personnel and thus has rapid staff turnover, or a workplace associated with frequent entry of external trading partners. This is because in those circumstances, for example, social engineering allows unauthorized use of the image forming device which is relatively simple by fraudulent adoption of an identity and causes a print manager to register that account. Conversely, unauthorized acquisition and printing of important information is possible by fraudulent adoption of an identity as a print manager, acquisition of an account for a general user of an external print service and shared registration as a general user on an image forming device that is different from the originally intended image forming device.
In the above circumstances, a solution is possible by use of a personnel operation feature. Examples include designation of print managers, strict implementation of identity verification, management of a user register for shared registration on an image forming device, or the like. However, these solution strategies are associated with a high probability of a mistake occurring in manual operations due to the troublesome operations required of both print managers and general users, and therefore time is required until a general user can use an image forming device. Furthermore, in a company that is associated with a number of operators of at least a certain number, a single image forming device is generally subject to shared use by about ten to more than twenty users, and a single manager will manage several to several hundred image forming devices. Consequently, an increase in management responsibilities must be minimized when enabling use of an external print service.